DACA Will End, But Immigrant Youth are #HereToStay

It happened. The president will end DACA. He announced plans to terminate the popular and successful program, upending the lives of 800,000 young Americans and putting them into the deportation pipeline.

Over the past five years, the DACA program has been a lifeline for more than 8,300 Tennesseans, providing a sense of security and a chance to dream and invest in their future here. Caving to the demands of extremist attorneys general and white supremacists in his administration, the president just made clear there is no limit to his anti-immigrant agenda. The president’s decision to terminate the DACA program is cruel and reckless: he’s devastated 800,000 families and the country gained nothing.

The president is taking away DACA, but he can’t undo the promise and transformational impact of the program. Now, young immigrants know their own power.

After years of fighting for the Dream Act and fighting to stop the deportations of their friends, immigrant youth pressured President Obama to use this executive authority to grant them relief and temporary protection – and in 2012 they won. And immigrant youth convinced Tennessee's Attorney General to completely reverse course. It was the powerful advocacy of DACA recipients that led him pull Tennessee from the lawsuit, and urge our Senators to support the Dream Act.

DACA showed immigrant youth their power, but it also showed the whole country that the program works. America better understands that when we create opportunities for people to participate and contribute, our whole community is stronger.

We'll be sharing more information and resources in the coming days about the program's termination and our plan to pass the Dream Act. Stay tuned. Though the DACA program will be gone, DACA recipients are here to stay. And we aren't giving up. We're ready to fight for immigrant youth and to protect all communities from deportations.

For our DACAmented members: you’re not alone. We're here for you, we’ve got your back, and we’re ready to fight with you. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be hosting healing spaces, information sessions, and mass actions in cities across the state. Check out (and keep checking!) our website and Facebook page for more details.

For the whole TIRRC family, we need you to stand with DACA recipients. We'll be in touch with ways you can take action, but in the meantime help us send a message to Congress to swiftly act to restore protections for DACA recipients and create an earned pathway to citizenship.